What Would You Give
by GracedAngel
Summary: Aurora, a girl with a haunted past, carries a secret that will change her life and the lives of all in Alagaesia. Set after Inheritance. Please read and review. Better than the summary sounds.


**This is my first fanfic published on here, so read, review and enjoy!**

**I definately don't own anything...**

"Absolutely not!"

"But why not mother! We need the meat and brother and father aren't here. I know how to hunt and use a bow, I'll be fine."

"No, and that's final. I will not have my daughter going to romp off in the woods alone, unprotected, at night when you know the danger that lurks in those woods when dusk hits."

Aurora looked up, pleading with her eyes for her mother to understand. They needed to eat and if she didn't go hunting then they would starve. It was a three day journey to the nearest town and even if she did go, they had no money to buy provisions. Winter was coming and Aurora knew she could get the meat...

"Mother…"

"NO! I WILL NOT LOOSE MY ONLY DAUGHTER LIKE I LOST YOUR BROTHER AND FATHER! I don't care if you can talk to those beasts now that your father and brother are gone; it's those beasts that got us into this mess in the first place. Besides, they haven't even accepted you yet anyway. What makes you think that they will help you?"

Aurora stared at her mother. Her joyous demeanor was gone, no more laugh lines around her mouth, no more glow of the eyes, no more 'I love you', no more hugs and kisses and no more fun. Ever since Aurora's father and older brother had been killed in the forest, mother had never been the same.

And now, looking into those cold blue eyes, Aurora knew she was never going to get her mother's blessing.

"As you wish…ma'am."

Aurora dejectedly turned and walked to the back of the little cottage that her father had built for her mother as a wedding present twenty-five years ago. Everything seemed to remind even her of what she had lost. Not only were her father and brother killed, she had also lost her mother the day that they hadn't come back.

Back in the room, Aurora's mother, Marianna, wept silent, bitter tears. She had lost everything, her husband and only son to the monsters that they had called friends. Her despair sank so deep that nothing could bring her joy anymore, not even her own daughter. She looked too much like her husband and just looking at her Aurora, her light, only brought her more darkness. Marianna heard a slight creaking noise in the back but paid it no heed, the cottage seemed to creak and groan more and more with every night that she didn't feel her beloved husband next to her in bed. She knew what her daughter said was true but all Marianne wanted to do was die and join her husband and son in sweet oblivion.

For the rest of that long night, Marianne wept. Silent burning tears that left scorched trails on her face and hands that no one could see. The pain never lessened, never abated, never thinned until she fell into deep slumber. Yet this slumber was marked by an intense heartache and sorrow that only a grieving mother could understand, a grief that left Marianne seeking death.

Fate obliged her.

As Aurora stroked her mother's face for the last time, a single tear fell on the cloth that would soon cover her mother's head. That single tear was the last tear, Aurora vowed, that would ever leave her eyes again. She had lost everything and had survived to live another day; tears were only a sign of weakness.

Pulling the white cloth over her mother, the face full of peace in death disappeared in Aurora's mind and was stored away as an unpleasant memory that only caused pain.

With her pack on her back and her brother's sword at her waist, she grabbed a smoldering stick and threw it on the pile of wood at her mother's feet. The embers instantly lit and soon a fire engulfed all that Aurora once knew to be home and life and love. Turing, the sky an ominous shade of grey, Aurora walked away from all that she once knew; and with every step she took away, her fear grew into pain and her pain grew into a heart of stone.

**Review and tell me what you think and if you have any suggestions**


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